Highlights

Pain, sorrow, repentance: the apostle Peter was full of remorse after having denied Jesus three times. In 1594, Renaissance composer Orlando di Lasso created a beautiful musical setting of this story: Lagrime di San Pietro (Saint Peter’s Tears). He dedicated it to Pope Clement VIII and it was his last composition. Ensemble Voces Suaves is known for its beautiful interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque music, based on historically informed performance practice.

Voces Suaves (literally: sweet voices) was founded in 2015. The choir has already won several awards in its short existence, including the Diapason Découverte and the Choc de Classica. With seven singers, the choir performs Di Lasso’s polyphonic masterpiece, which is also based on the number seven – seven voices, written in seven of the eight church modes and consisting of 21 (3 times 7) parts. A profoundly emotional experience. Thirteen years before Di Lasso, Palestrina composed his First book of madrigals. Five of them will be performed.

Programme booklet (Dutch)

The Danish String Quartet can be practically considered house musicians at the Muziekgebouw. For the fourth year in a row, the Danes are coming to Amsterdam with their project Doppelgänger, in which they combine quartets by Schubert with new contemporary compositions. Without exception, the previous editions were highlights of the concert season, and this concluding chapter of the project will be no different. Thomas Adès is performed alongside Schubert.

This time, the Danish String Quartet kicks things up a notch! Reinforced by cellist Johannes Rostamo, they will be presenting a captivating program of quintets instead of their signature quartets. One of Schubert’s very last works is String Quintet in C: he composed it two months before his death and the work was not premiered until decades later. The famous Adagio has the atmosphere of a requiem. Like Schubert, Adès composed his new quintet for an unusual ensemble with an extra cello.

Programme booklet (Dutch)

Musician Ahmet Aslan from Turkey creates a soundscape of timeless beauty, in which you can completely immerse yourself. He achieves this partly through his voice, which sounds robust and warm, but can also reach gripping heights. He also shines on his very own string instrument, the Di-Tar, a cross between a classical guitar, a flamenco guitar, and a bağlama (string instrument). 

Ahmet Aslan is a passionate advocate for the culture of the Zaza people, an ethnic group living in the border region between Iran and Turkey. He is loved throughout Turkey, however, especially since his music was used in the popular TV crime series Eşkiya Dünyaya Hükümdar Olmaz (Ruler of the Underworld). His success has a ‘dash of Dutch’: he developed the Di-Tar when he was studying World Music at Codarts in Rotterdam.

Amandante is the first opera by Dutch-Ukrainian composer Maxim Shalygin. Shalygin’s music is adventurously omnivorous, yet rooted in tradition. A spiritual undertone, common in Eastern European music, frequently permeates his work. Amandante is a chamber opera inspired by the ancient Symposium, Plato’s dialogue exploring lust, love, and desire. Staged as a series of tableaux vivants and through a chiaroscuro of emotions, the opera unveils both the radiant beauty of love and its darker, more destructive facets.

Despite the war in their homeland, Ukrainian Nova Opera is creating new productions that reflect the progressive artistic climate in Kyiv. Nova Opera’s unique music theatre blends elements of Gregorian chant, trip hop, avant-garde rock, baroque, and folk music. Their work encompasses a wide range of forms, from traditional theatre to video installations. Their productions, often premiering internationally, have earned widespread critical acclaim.

This is a production of Muziekgebouw Productiehuis in collaboration with Nova Opera, the Greek National Opera and Stichting Ensemble Shapeshift. 

 


Thanks to:
_{Many thanks to het Cultuurfonds, Eleonora van Heusden Fund and Anna H. Toonen Fund}